บท 49: Volume 2 Episode 43 (Volume 2 Finale)
Lin and Eric both attended lunch with the Sultan of Nubia and talked for a bit afterwards, before they left the palace.
As the car moved swiftly over the highway, Lin and Eric sat silently. Eric glanced at Lin, who was thinking about the situation that he was in.
'I'm still not powerful enough. It seems that I am still naive.'
Lin knew that he didn't even have a say when it came to the deal with the Sultan. It was basically just for show. A courtesy of sorts.
Even though Lin might be better than most people in terms of magical power and raw strength, he wasn't even close to taking on a whole country. The fact that he was still helpless even though he trained so much frustrated him.
'In the end, influence is also a key factor in deciding strength.'
Lin knew that just becoming strong physically wasn't good enough. He needed people to use. He needed support. He needed influence to get that power.
'The Hamill family and the Lindon family may be considered as powerful, but they're nowhere close to the Sultan. If I need to one up them, then I am really going to need more than two families.'
Lin sat silent throughout the whole flight, thinking about what to do to combat such powerful existences. He realised that he would most probably need to get into politics, business maybe both, and even then there wouldn't be a guarantee that he'll ever be successful.
In the end, he couldn't make up his mind even as they reached his home. Eric got out of the car and shook hands with Lin to say goodbye.
"I hope you are not too bothered by the Sultan, Mr. Lin."
Lin smiled bitterly at Eric.
"Well, I think you may be late in saying that Eric. I already feel so helpless."
Seeing the depressed face of Lin, Eric couldn't help but sigh. He then pressed his hand on Lin's shoulder, and spoke to him.
"Mr. Lin, did you know that the Sultan became the Sultan at the age of thirty three?"
Lin looked over to Eric, puzzled at the random information he just told him. Seeing the confused face of Lin, Eric grinned and opened his mouth once again.
"Did you know that I inherited my family's business at the age of thirty eight?"
"No, I did not know that fact. But, what's that got to do with anything?"
Lin asked confusedly and Eric began to explain.
"You don't care about your age Mr. Lin, and that's a good thing most of the time. But sometimes, you just have to actually realize that people do indeed get a head start in life, and there's nothing you can do about it."
Eric then walked to his limousine to get in, and turned his head just before he got in the car.
"Mr. Lin, you're still fifteen last time I checked. You might think of that as a liability, but I would ask you to think differently. It might mean that you got a late start than the rest of your opponents, but it also means that you've got more time to catch up than we ever did. Don't be so glum Mr. Lin, extra time is what everyone desires but no one gets. You still have plenty of time. Use it wisely. Goodbye then."
Eric waved at Lin and got in the vehicle, as he drove off, leaving a stunned Lin standing outside his apartment. He then went over what Eric said once again, and sighed.
'He's right. I may have been taking this second chance that I've been given a bit too seriously. So much so that it's interfering with my decision making process as well. Maybe it's time I took things a bit less serious. Maybe focus more on efficiency rather than urgency.'
Lin realized that he'd been living his second chance life like he was on a ticking time bomb which could blow up at any time, when it was really not the case.
'You did me a favor Eric. I feel like I can think a bit more clearly now.'
Lin smiled as he looked at his smartphone. The reminder he had set about the training for the fight was going off.
'Oh, that's right, the final is in two days, right?'
Lin remembered that he had to fight Roger in the finals which was coming up soon. He went inside his house, and took another shot of the painkillers. His pain had lessened a bit more, but it was still present, interfering with unleashing his full potential.
Nevertheless, he made sure to never miss his training, as he pushed his body to the limits once again.
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[ Practical Zone Stadium ]
[ Day of the Finals ]
The day of the finals had finally arrived, as two days flew by in an instant. The spectators were rushing in to get to their seats as time for the final was fast approaching.
People were really excited about the fight between the two participants. Most people though, were waiting to watch the dark horse of the tournament, Lin Hamill of the Hamill family in action, to see if he could bring about another miracle, or would the usual third year student prevail and grab ahold of the victory once again.
Although Lin might be from an influential family, he was still a level ten, far from being anyone's favourite to win, and yet here he was in the finals. The crowd, obviously, was favoring Lin to beat Roger, just so they could see an upset, which is more exciting than a third year student winning the tournament again for the hundredth time.
Finally the time had come for the finals to begin, and both the contestants entered the arena to explosive cheers from an enthusiastic crowd of spectators. Both of them then moved to the centre of the field, where the referee was waiting for them.
"Good luck Mr. Lin."
Roger stretched his hands for a handshake, and Lin did the same. After the two participants finished greeting each other they looked at the referee who explained the rules once again.
After explaining the rules, the referee asked for confirmation and the players nodded.
"All right then, good luck to both of you. And may the best man win."
The referee walked to the sidelines as both the contestants moved towards their respective sides, waiting for the countdown to hit zero.
"Five, four, three, two, one.."
The crowd held their breaths as the countdown finally hit zero, and Roger leaped towards Lin, who surprisingly chose not to attack.
'What's he thinking?'
Roger had expected Lin to go all out from the get-go itself, so suffice to say he was definitely surprised, but he still dashed quickly at him.
The crowd was also wondering why Lin didn't choose to attack. He had always chosen to attack right after the countdown hit zero like he wished for the fight to end as soon as possible, and it seemed like he had chosen a different strategy for the finals.
Suddenly Lin raised both of his hands upwards and clenched both of his fists. He then hit both of his fists straight at the land beneath him, smashing the whole ground and breaking it.
The impact had caused dust and debris to launch from the ground at high speed and Roger who had already gotten quite close to Lin couldn't defend against all of them, and was pushed back.
"Dammit!"
Roger looked at his body which was injured by the flying debris. He didn't expect to be injured already, even before landing a single hit.
He then looked over at the spot where Lin stood, and saw that it was empty.
'Where the hell is he?'
The surprised Roger looked around to find his opponent, and to his horror wasn't able to find him.
But the surprise didn't last long as a figure burst through the ground below him and grabbed Roger before he even had a chance to comprehend what was going on.
'Don't tell me, the destruction of the ground before was just a distraction for him to dig underground? B-But wasn't he supposed to be a fire magic user?'
Even though Roger had a lot of questions that needed answering, he had no time to do so, as the enemy had already got a hold of him.
Lin grabbed Roger and used his most destructive move, the flame explosion quickly, decimating the surrounding areas as a loud explosion occurred.
Roger, who was conscious even after that, had been thrown back multiple metres, but got up quickly to see Lin charge in his direction.
Roger quickly conjured up his lightning bow and arrow, and shot at Lin repeatedly.
Lin jumped and evaded most of them, but he did get by some. However, none of the attacks slowed him down, not even a bit.
Roger bit his lips, and started conjuring up his most powerful move, the thunder crusade. Hundreds of lightning bolts started raining down from the sky and onto Lin, who surprisingly didn't move one bit.
Roger watched as the lightning bolts hit their target, causing a huge blast, enveloping everything in dust. He still didn't move and looked at the place covered in dust, to see whether his enemy had fallen or not.
"You shouldn't fall for the same trick twice, you know?"
A familiar voice echoed from behind, causing Roger to turn as quickly as he could, but not fast enough as Lin was already right in front of him, with the flame sword in his hands.
'No way, did he dig through the ground once again when the lightning struck? How is he still fine?'
Roger could only watch helplessly as Lin swung his flame sword in his direction, sealing his fate in the tournament.
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